Apparatus for casting hollow metal articles



July 31 1945.4 '1 J. P. GOWLAND 4 APPARATUS FOR CASTING HOLLOW METAL ARTICLES Filed Feb. 9, 1943 R om N 3 s R R RR 3 8m Q NW ,U gym Q 24 wwI Patented July 31, 1945 AP?AR ATUS FOR CASTING HOLLOW METAL ARTICLES John Pinkney Gowland, Woking, England Application February 9, 1943, Serial No. 475,273

In Great Britain February 10, 1942 Claims. (0]. 2257) split mould is used the two halves of which are carried respectively by a pair of pivoted arms in the form of tongs of the nutcracker type, the arms being closed tobring the two mould halves together, for casting and being opened for ejection. On one of the mould halves is pivotally mounted a cutter platein the form of a lever which carries a cup or funnel and which can be swung about its pivot so as to bring the funnel into alignment with the aperture or gate in the Joln between the mould halves. In using such apparatus the tongs are closed, the cutter plate is shifted until the funnel is in alignment with the gate, and the molten metal poured into the funnel. The hinged end of the tongs is rested against a supporting block and after the metal has been poured the tongs carrying the mould are swung upwards and over'about the hinged end resting on the block until the funnel is in-' verted so as to decent the surplus molten metal in the mould, leaving only a thin skin of metal in the mould which has been chilled against the comparatively cold mould. The cutter plate is then swung about its pivot to shear the flash on the base of the figure, whereafter the mould is opened by opening the tongs and the casting removed.

' with the conventional apparatus the'tongs must be held by hand and the operator generally has to stand in order to be able to swing over the tongs and mould from one position to Fig. 1 is a plan view of a preferred form of casting apparatus embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a side view of the'apparatus of Fig. 1 showing it in association with metal feeding means; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a modification. Whereas in the conventional casting apparatus previously mentioned the mould-carrying tongs were arranged to swing in a vertical are about a transverse horizontal axis at one end of the tongs, a feature of my invention consists in eliminating such arcuate Swing by mounting the mould-carrying mutually separable members of a casting apparatus so as to revolve as a unit on a horizontal longitudinal axis of the unit. As seen in Figs. 1 to 3, the apparatus therein illustrated comprises a, base plate 10 for attachment of the apparatus to a workbench or other suitable supporting surface, and upstanding from the plate It! is a, pair of aligned bearing brackets H, i2 which support th m'ould carrying members of the apparatus. These -members comprise a rectangular frame-denoted generally by the reference numeral M, and a plate or bolster it on which are removably fixed the the other.. The heavier the mould the harder the work, and female labour can in'general opcrate only small moulds.

An objectpf this invention is the provision of improved casting apparatus of the character above mentioned which will have advantages in increasing the speed of casting. Another object is the provision of castin apparatus which willbe easier endless fatiguing to handle than similar apparatus known heretofore and which will enable heavier classes of work to be handled satisfactorily by female labour. A further obmould.

two halves iia, 6312 of a longitudinally split mould. The mould in the example shown is for obtaining multiple castings pressions M (Fig. 2) in line in the common The side ii of the frame l8 and the bolster W, are adapted'in convenient manner to have the mould sections i311, tab fixed thereto respectively,'for instance by set screws it. The bolster i5 is formed at its ends with eyes 19 which are slidable respectively on guide rods 20 passing therethrough transversely of the frame M and secured to the opposite .sides I7 and 2| of the frame by nuts 22 threaded on the projecting threaded ends of the guides 20.

Compression springs 23- encircling the guides 20 and bearing between the inner face of the-frame member I! and the opposing faces of the eyes l9 tend to urge the bolster. i5\away from the member I1 and thus to urge the mould sections I 3a, l3b apart. A bell crank lever 24, pivoted by a pivot pin 25 between a. pair of outwardly directed parallel lugs 26 on the frame member 2|, has its shorter arm passing through an aperture in the member 2| and carrying a roller 27 in engagement with thebolster I 5/ Th lever 24 when in the position shown in Fig. 1 keeps the mould closed, and when swung outwardly allows th springs 23 to displace the bolster l5 and thereby open the mould. At one end ll remote from the lever 24 the frame II is provided with a spigot 18 which lies on the longitudinal axis of the frame II and is iournalled in the bearing bracketl I. At the opposite end 3. of the frame It a spindle Si is provided aligned with the spigot 29 and iournalled in the hearing bracket It. The spindle 3i passes through the bracket l2 and is fitted at its free end with a handle II. The free end of the lever 24 is similarly. provided with a handle 33 and is set inwards in crank fashion at 34 so as to bring the handle 32 and 38 together and facilitate their being held in one hand.

A further feature of the invention consists in eliminating the movable cutter plate heretofore employed in the conventional apparatus, and with the elimination of the cutter plate to fit the funnel that was carried by such plate, directlyupon the mould itself, the funnel for this purpose being split into a plurality of sections corresponding to the splitting of the mould and the mould sections so that when the latter are held together to form the closed mould the funnel 25 sections fit together to form the complete funnel. Thus, with a multiple-impression mould as'illustrated, there is provided a set of. funnels associated one with each gate 35 in the mould. The set of funnels is split into two halves Ila, Ilb corresponding to the division of the mould Ila, llb and all the funnel halves "a Or Ilb. carried by each half Ila or lib of the mould are preferably made in one piece which is secured to the corresponding'mould section in any convenient fashion, as by screws 31 or by hinging thereto so as to hinge away from the split, so as to facilitate removal of the castings.

In using the apparatus described molten metal may be ladled into each of the funnels but preferably for faster working, provision is made for feeding all the funnels simultaneously. Such provision may be of the form illustrated in Fig. 3 where the apparatus is shown associated with a duct 38 carrying molten metal from a melting pot is, the duct being disposed longitudinally over the funnels and having a set of nozzles 40 placed to deliver molten metal to the respective' .the funnels, such device preferably operating simultaneously on all the nozzles 40. For this purpose, the valve device may comprise an apertured slide bar disposed longitudinally within the duct 38 and overlying the nozzle apertures, the bar ll being connected with a spring-loaded hand plunger 42 outside the duct, by means of which the bar can be displaced by pressing the plunger so as to bring the apertures 43 in the bar in register with the nozzle apertures and thereby permit fiow of metal through the nozzles. The plunger 12, when released, is restored by action of its spring 44 to bring the apertures 48 in the and thereby cut of! the metal fiow; After the metal has been poured into the mould it isnecessary only to apply a hand twist to the handles 32-, SI to revolve the frame ll on the castingsmaybeeasilyremovedinaseparate parts of the apparatus, thus facilitating the work and enabling female operators to operate even the heaviest moulds. Because the construction of the apparatus relieves the operator of the weight when turning over the mould, it is a practlcal proposition to construct moulds for multiple impressions of substantial number. By ensuring that the revolving unit is well balanced, if necessary providing a balance weight on the frame member 2|, the minimum of eifort will be required to turn the mould over.

It is not essential inall cases that the mouldcarrying turnover unit be supported at both ends, as it may be quite sufiicient, for example with small moulds, to support the unit at one end only. As an illustration of this, attention is directed'to the modification illustrated in Fig.1! in which the turnover unit is supported at one end by an angle bracket 5| which is.adapted to be secured to the workbench or other supporting surface. The turnover unit comprises a pair of tongs formed of two arms II, I2, the arm II of which is L-shaped and the other arm II is substantially straight, the end of the arm ll being hinged to the free end of the short portion of the an arm 52 by the hinge ll- At the centre of the short portion of arm I! is secured a spigot 84 which extends axially of the tongs and passes through a bearing hole, in the bracket I, the spigot 54 being rotatable in' the bracket and held against being pulled out therefrom by a nut II or .equivalent stop secured on the portion of the spigot which projects through the bracket. The

two arms II, 82 of the tongs are adapted for carrying the respective halves Ila, 58b of a 0 mould secured thereto by screws 10. These 46 in the mould. The free ends of the arms ll, 52

' bar 4| out of register with the noa'zle apertures castingscanthen'beremovedby hand orby electors. Anyfiashoccuringatthebaseotthe' are formed or provided with handles 5|, IO and may he stepped inwards in crank fashion. if

' necessary, soas tov bring the handles sufilciently close together to be easily held in one hand.

The mould is kept closed by holding these handles together. When molten metal has been poured into the mould it is necessary only to rotate the tongs about the axis provided by the spigot 54 to pour out the surplus metal. The bracket 80 beats the weight of one end of the unit, and if thebearing is made sufiicientlylong can actually be arranged to bear the whole weight of the unit. The positioning of the spigot 54 at the centre of the short portion of the arm 52 gives good balance 60 to the unit which thus needs little effort to turn it over.

Consideration of the foregoing will it is believed demonstrate that the invention has provided improvements in casting apparatus enabling the 55 rate of production ofcastingsto be increased through theapparatus being easier, quicker and less arduous to handle, sucih improvements further enabling multiple castings to be made simultaneously. It will be evident, however, that the improvements which make this production of multiple castings practicable are also useful with like advantages for moulds with single imprusions. Further, the improved turnover arrangement is applicable with advantage to moulds furnished with a cutter plate and attached funnel as heretoforepractised. It will also be apparent that the improved apparatus is readily adaptable to operation mechanically, as well as by hand.

I claim: 1. Apparatus for casting hollow metal articles,

comprising a rectangularframe, a, pair of spaced apart aligned bearing brackets-said frame being positioned between said brackets with opposite ends of the frame adjacent said brackets respectively, means on said frame ends supporting said frame rotatably in said brackets, a pair of guides within said frame, adjacent the respective ends I thereof and extending transversely of the frame, between the opposite sides thereof, a-bolster slidably mounted on said guides, said bolster and one of the sides of said frame being adapted for carrying the component sections of a split mould thereon respectively, spring means on said guides between said bolster and said mould-carrying mould-closing position whereby said handles may be collectively held in one hand.

2. Apparatus for casting hollow metal articles comprising a mould assembly constituted by the combination of a mould having a plurality of impressions of .the article to be cast arranged in line longitudinally in the mould, and a set of funnels arranged in line respectively over the gates of said mould impressions and attached to like hollow metal articles that are cast with a baseplate on which to stand, the combination of a coreless split mould comprising a pair of complementary separable mould sections containing an inverted impression of an article and includedbaseplate to be cast so that the baseplate portion of the impression is uppermost and contiguous with the upper face of the mould, a separable funnel over the gate of the mould impression comprising a pair of complementary funnel sections on the upper face of the respective mould sections so as to be separable therewith, the portion of the underface of said funnel which overlies the mould impression defining the inverted underface of the baseplate portion of said'impression, each funnel section being secured to the underlying mould section by means capable of permitting upward play of the funnel section relatively to theunderlying mould section for facilitating withdrawal of the funnel section from the baseplate of the casting, and means pivotally supporting said mould for inversion by revolution.

5. In apparatus for tip-casting toy figuresand like hollow metal articles oLthe kind having a cast baseplate on which to stand, the eombinaso that the baseplate portions of the impressions are uppermost and contiguous with the upper face of the mould, and a line of as many funnels as there are mould impressions arranged on the upper face of the mould over and communicating with the respective gates of the mould imthe mould, said assembly being split longitudinally into a plurality of combined mould and funnel sections, a plurality of co-acting mutually separable members carrying said sections, means mounting said section-carrying members to revolve as a unit on an axis longitudinally of the unit, whereby said unit is turnable from a casting position to a turned-over position for decanting surplus metal from the mould, and meansineluding a set of nozzles and flow-regulating means for supplying molten casting metal to all said funnels simultaneously, said nozzles being located in line above said unit so as to be vertically above said funnels respectively when said unit is in casting position.

3. Apparatus as defined in claim 2, said supply means also including a duct carrying said nozzles branching therefrom and externally controllable valve means within said duct and associated with said nozzles to regulate metal flow through all said nozzles simultaneously.

'- ing mould section thereof, said securing means pressions, said line of funnels being separate faces of said funnels which overlie the respective mould impressions defining the inverted underfaces of the baseplate portions of said impressions, said assembly being split longitudinally into a pair of combined mould and funnel sections, means mounting said combined sections for relative mutual displacement to open and close the same, means securing the funnel sections of each combined section to the underlybeing capable of permitting upwardplay of the funnel sections relatively to their underlying mould section for facilitating withdrawal of the funnel sections from the basepiates of the cast- Jo n Pm mEY oowzilmn.

from said mould and the portions of the under- 

